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Morley Meredith, 77, Baritone Who Sang 40 Roles at the Met

Morley Meredith, a versatile baritone who sang 40 roles in 31 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, died last Thursday at the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Florida. He was 77.

The cause was cancer, said Peter Clark, a spokesman for the Met.

Mr. Meredith was born in Winnipeg, Canada, and began his musical studies there, but when he entered the University of Manitoba he intended to study medicine. While an undergraduate he performed regularly as a recitalist and as a soloist in oratorios and recorded a series of recitals for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

He made his New York debut as a recitalist at Town Hall in 1956 and sang Escamillo in a New York City Opera production of ''Carmen'' in 1957. He also undertook leading roles in several musical theater productions, including ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,'' with Carol Channing, and ''Christine,'' with Maureen O'Hara.

Mr. Meredith made his Metropolitan Opera debut singing the four villains in Offenbach's ''Contes d'Hoffmann'' in January 1962. Other roles he sang at the Met include Rangoni in ''Boris Godunov,'' Alfio in ''Cavalleria Rusticana,'' Pizarro in ''Fidelio,'' Klingsor in ''Parsifal'' and Scarpia in ''Tosca.'' He sang many smaller roles at the Met, too, and was frequently singled out for his character acting.

Mr. Meredith also performed with opera companies in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and in 1970 he made his European debut as Scarpia at the Grand Theater in Geneva.

He is survived by a sister, Cecile Feldman of Minneapolis.

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A version of this obituary; biography appears in print on February 9, 2000, on Page B00010 of the National edition with the headline: Morley Meredith, 77, Baritone Who Sang 40 Roles at the Met. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe